The government is going to build 560 model mosques in district and upazila towns across the country spending Tk 8,722 crore from its own resources as Saudi Arabia has not made the funds available.

The planning ministry is scheduled to place the proposal for the project at the Executive Committee of the National Economic Council meeting today.

On April 25, 2017 the Ecnec approved a Tk-9,062 crore project, 90 percent of which was expected to be Saudi Arabian grant for constructing the mosques.

The planning ministry proposal says over a year has passed since the project was approved, but the foreign assistance has not been ensured. The government is going to implement the project anyway.

In December 2017, details of the project were discussed at an Ecnec meeting from where a directive was issued for holding another high-level meeting at the Prime Minister's Office before taking further steps, a ministry official said.

At the PMO meeting held soon afterwards, it was decided that the project would be implemented by 2020.

The project cost was cut by Tk 340 crore in revised plan.

After the project was passed last year, Saudi Arabia's commitment was widely reported in the local and foreign media.

Fox News Channel and The Washington Times in May 2017 reported that Saudi Arabia was refuting reports that it would fund a $1 billion project to build 560 mosques in Bangladesh.

Quoting Awwad Alawwad, Saudi minister of culture and information, the Fox News said Saudi Arabia had refuted claims by Bangladesh that it agreed to provide $1 billion to build mosques in Bangladesh, saying such a major commitment would have required a formal bilateral agreement.

Saudi Arabia has never committed such funding for the mosque-building project, the Fox News quoted Awwad as saying.

Bangladesh Ambassador to Saudi Arabia Golam Mosih told The Daily Star at the time that during Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's visit to Saudi Arabia, she had sought financial support for constructing the mosques.

“...The Saudi King assured our honourable prime minister that he would look into the matter,” he added.

According to planning ministry officials, the modern mosques would have libraries, Quran teaching sessions, education for children, and training for Hajj aspirants and Imams. The Bangladesh Islamic Foundation would implement the project.

The model mosques will be set up in all district, upazila and city corporation areas.

The mosques will be four storied in district towns and three storied at upazilas.

The planning ministry proposal says in district and upazilas there are no aesthetic mosques with modern amenities.

One of the aims of the project is to prevent militancy, violence towards women and increase awareness about the government's development activities, it adds.